Agenda and Minutes for Parish Council Meeting held on 29 October 2015

A Meeting of the Parish Council will be held at the Village Hall, Singleton on Thursday 29 October 2015 at 7.15 pm.

Your presence is requested.
A G E N D A
1. Apologies for Absence

2. Declaration of Interests

3. Minutes of Previous Meeting held on 24 September 2015 and any Matters Arising

4. Open Forum – The Council will open up the meeting for 15 minutes for any questions from residents.

5. Police Matters

6. Traffic Issues

7. Correspondence

8. Planning matters and decisions

9. Car Park

10. Defibrillator

11. Statement of Accounts

12. Cheques to Pay

13. Any Other Business

14. Date and Time of Next Meeting – 26 November 2015 at 7.15pm

Verena Henderson
Clerk to Singleton Parish Council
Tel: 01995 670455

Singleton Parish Council
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at the Village Hall, Singleton
on 29 October 2015 at 7.15 pm

Present: – Cllrs Bailey (Chair), Gallagher (Vice Chair), Chew and Smith, and the Parish Clerk, Verena Henderson, who took the Minutes.
1. Apologies – Cllr Lee, who had been delayed at a meeting.

2. Declaration of Interests – None

3. Minutes of Previous Meeting and any Matters Arising

The Minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 September 2015, having been previously circulated, were agreed as a true and correct record and duly signed by the Chairman. There were no matters arising.

4. Open Forum – None

5. Police and PACT Report

Report received on crimes up to 1st October, which showed that 6 crimes had been committed in Singleton Parish. Two of these were driving off without paying for petrol from Singleton Crossroads Petrol Station, one was for leaving a public house without paying, one was for criminal damage to a car on Garstang Road, one was for domestic assault and the final one was for a small amount of drugs found in a vehicle on Mains Lane. Both occupants were arrested.

The Police are now sending out regular “In the Know” alerts and the Clerk had created a separate heading on the Parish Council’s website for any alerts that affected our area.

A report had been circulated throughout the Borough on the Police funding formula and the impact this will have on Policing in Lancashire. A very alarming report.

6. Traffic Issues

County Councillor Paul Hayhurst had intended to attend this meeting, but unfortunately he was needed elsewhere. He had wanted to explain the problems with the 20mph speed limit originally agreed for Singleton. Councillor John Fillis, the Highways Portfolio Holder, had inadvertently signed a piece of paper cancelling these arrangements. Cllr Hayhurst had therefore had to go back to the start but is pursuing this for us. Although the Parish does experience serious speeding, fortunately so far there have been no serious accidents. However this is more by luck than good management as Cllr Smith this week witnessed two motorbikes wheeling through the village, doing an estimated 70/80mph, side by side, at 4.00pm one weekday afternoon.

Cllr Chew is to have a meeting with Highways England, (formerly known as the Highways Agency), who are currently looking into ways of creating a bypass of Singleton Crossroads. At that meeting she is also going to raise the problems of the traffic lights at Junction 3 of the M55, which have not been working for some time and which appear to have been a complete waste of money. When they have worked, they have created long tailbacks of traffic.

Letter received from EM Highway Services regarding the work on the A585 from Skippool to Singleton. This is on drainage and footway works and will be completed prior to Christmas 2015.

7. Correspondence

• Fylde Local Plan to 2032 – Revised Preferred Option Consultation. Details of the consultation events have been placed on both noticeboards. Cllr Chew had attended one of these events, which showed that there were no new large developments planned for Singleton Parish. Full details can still be found on Fylde BC’s website.
• District Parish Liaison Meeting – Minutes from the meeting held on 17 September 2015 had been circulated and a copy will be kept on file. The next meeting will take place on Thursday 10 December at the New Village Hall, Church Road, Weeton, commencing at 6.30pm.
• Two invitations received for the Chairman to attend the Remembrance Services at Kirkham and Staining Parish Council. Unfortunately the Chairman was unable to attend either and the Clerk would send apologies.

8. Planning Matters and Decisions

• 15/0672 – Worsicks Farm, Weeton Road, Singleton, FY6 8LL – Erection of two storey building providing two semi-detached dwellings following demolition of existing dwelling. The Parish Council was disappointed that this building could not be saved as it is 200 years old and adds to the character of the conservation area. It is also the only building that is pre-Thomas Millers’ rebuild of the whole village. The Parish Council would respond that in the interests of conservation and heritage, the façade of the building be kept if at all possible.
• 15/0737 – 153 Mains Lane, Singleton, FY6 7LB – Single storey side and rear extension – increase of roof height to dwelling with introduction of two dormers to front roof slope. The Council has no specific observations to make other than the work has already started.

The Parish Council was disappointed to see that no work had taken place yet on the Hollies development on the old site of Singleton Garage. It was now considered to be a health and safety issue as the gates were open and children could get access to the site. The Clerk was asked to contact Fylde BC’s Enforcement Officer David Pilkington once again and to copy in officers Mark Evans and Andrew Stell.

Email received from Andrew Stell, Development Manager, Fylde BC to say that planning consultations would be changing and they would make more use of electronic communication methods. Fylde would be carrying out a training session on the new arrangements and the Clerk would be attending this on behalf of Singleton PC.
9.
Car Park

The Clerk had contacted Andrew Scott who has now delivered two loads of hardcore for the car park but was yet to come and level this. No invoice had been received as yet and it is hoped that the work will be completed soon.

10.
Defibrillator

The Defibrillator is now fitted and housed by the side door of the Village Hall. The next step is to get this commissioned by the Red Cross and Ambulance Service, who must do this before it can be used. After hopefully a successful check, the Defibrillator will be linked into `Cardiac Smart’ so that when people telephone 999 they will be given a code to access the box and a callout to an ambulance will be made as a back-up. The Chairman will contact the Red Cross to set this in motion. Once the Defibrillator is up and running, arrangements will be made for first-aid training. The Clerk already had a few names and mention of this would be made in the next newsletter.

11.
Statement of Accounts

The Clerk distributed an interim statement of accounts which showed a balance of £25,500. It had been previously planned to put up new fencing in front of the Village Hall, but the hedging seems to be re-growing and therefore it was agreed to leave this in abeyance to see how it goes.

The Christmas tree lights had been a disappointment last year and it was agreed to get some new coloured ones for this year. Cllr Gallagher will look into this.

The Village Hall is getting a lot of bookings for functions, and whilst this is good to see, it has shown how inadequate the number of toilets is. The Village Hall Committee has been considering applying for a grant to build an extension for a new toilet block and the Parish Council agreed it would be happy to support this initiative and to make a grant should match-funding be required.

The Clerk will check on when the Parish Council last paid the Village Hall for the electricity used.

13. Any Other Business

• It was agreed to produce another Christmas card this year, using a picture of the South Lodge main gates. Cllr Gallagher will arrange this with Forsyth and Steele.
• Cllr Chew is collecting items for the newsletter, which will include: – United Utilities and when they are getting rid of their compound; the popularity of the new Trust footpaths; the Defibrillator and getting names for the first-aid course. If anything else comes to mind, please contact Cllr Chew as soon as possible.
14. Date and Time of next meeting – Thursday 26 November at 7.15 pm.